Abstract

Artificial intelligence is transforming scientific research across disciplines by automatic data analysis, hypothesis generation, experimentation, and scholarly communication. The twentieth century was an era in which industrialization and automation transformed the external structure of human life, but also profoundly affected its inner imagination, sensitivity, and creative consciousness. AI-driven tools now aid in tasks as diverse as discovering new materials, simulating physical systems and analysing social data. The rapid growth of AI has created a virtuous cycle between computational innovation and scientific discovery. Artificial intelligence is poised to transform science through ground breaking approaches with far reaching societal implications, while challenging scientific problems in turn push AI development.